To despair about the state of the Labour Party ?

[Bertoldbrecht]

I’m a long time labour/ remain voter in the north west. Never joined the party although considered doing so to get a vote in the leadership election. Liked Corbyn initially on a superficial basis but knew realistically he hadn’t got a cat in hells chance of winning an election. Too much baggage to endear him to the average voter and the media accusations of him being ‘hard left’ or a ‘stalinist’ were the final nail in the coffin whether they were true or not.
I was relieved that Keir Starmer won. I suspect that if his leadership team get the policies right he will appeal to wavering voters as did Tony Blair but sadly the vitriol directed at him by some members is unbelievable. So much hostility and hatred because he’s not outright attacking the tories for their handling of the covid crisis. I think he’s showing pragmatism and reading the mood of the country correctly, it feels like we’ve got an adult in charge of the opposition rather than a student rabble rouser whose principles were well intentioned but unrealistic. I just don’t get why some members can’t just unify behind him and get on with challenging the Tory government rather than undermining a leader that the major of the party have selected by a pretty large majority.
So do most labour members/ supporters dislike him or is it just a vocal minority who can’t get over Corbyn ?

So do most labour members/ supporters dislike him or is it just a vocal minority who can’t get over Corby

Well - he did win the recent election to become Leader so that would suggest most supporters like him. He got 56% of the vote.

He's doing a good job. Taking it carefully, raising important issues and not 'opposing' for opposition's sake.

Twitter is very different to what people actually think.

They do seem determined to remain unelectable, don't they ?

amp.lbc.co.uk/news/labour-councillor-formal-warning-foodbank-tories

Labour councillor given warning after working with Tories to deliver food to foodbank

This is an excellent time to feel optimistic about the party!

I feel like a deadweight's been lifted. It'll take quite a while to build up the faith people used to have but now imo we're back on track.

I agree OP although it seems to be be the way things are at the moment ( not just in the Labour Party btw) - everyone seems to want to whinge and complain rather than look for any positives. Undoubtably the Conservatives have made mistakes but I think pretty much every single person in the U.K. underestimated this virus . I like Kier Starmer and hopefully he will be bring the Labour Party together. I can’t believe how unelectable they have become.

I think you’re right re Twitter. It’s just that every contribution he makes is criticised. It’s as if some of these ‘activists’ would rather be in opposition for ever, sniping from the sides than actually belong to a party in power !

It's not that we hate Starmer it's just that we are annoyed that 2017 was sabotaged by labour's NEC and feel betrayed. It's come to light that members and even some MPs were actively working to prevent us winning and celebrated seat losses in the 2017 election. This is not good enough and we feel let down. I've left the party but I might vote labour as the guy who stands locally is good. I imagine there are others who feel the same.

It’s as if some of these ‘activists’ would rather be in opposition for ever, sniping from the sides than actually belong to a party in power

But that's exactly what the right of the party did in 2017. They preferred staying in opposition to Corbyn be elected.

I’m starting to think some of them are fifth columnists employed by the tories. They just don’t get that Corbyn was rejected twice by the electorate for a reason, each time by a greater number of people and that the vast majority aren’t bothered about ‘socialist purity’

Labour are their own worst enemy and have been for many years.

They currently represent students and the woke, which is a few percent of the whole population. They are just too left wing to attract the majority.

The problem is, the extreme left of the party are the squeaky tyres. They will scream "bigot" every time the party is moved more centre.

DGRossetti, she didn't go through the proper channels for permission etc but it pales into comparison with the Conor Burns scandal.

There's a die hard Corbyn fan club and there's no reasoning with them. Now isn't the time to be shouting for answers, we need to get further through this. The right tatic and the next election is real opportunity because we wasted the last one.

The exact same people who have been complaining about the right of the party undermining the leadership and thus the party’s electoral chances, are doing exactly the same thing now. I’m hoping it will settle down a bit as KS settles into the role and after lockdown fewer people will have time to post criticism on twitter. But at the minute it seems a lot like several sections of the party are more interested in factional war than anything the electorate actually cares about.

@bert

Starmer has the equivalent to Mount Everest to climb. The pragmatic approach he is taking in a time of national crisis not to oppose for opposition sake will reap some rewards. The public were sick of the utter bollocks sprouted by the Trotskyist labour front bench under Corbyn, frequently not even getting their facts straight. So not hearing the likes of Corbyn, Abbott, McDonnell etc is a relief.

We need a decent opposition and Starmer will need time to build it, and importantly build some trust from the British electorate. But being realistic, there is a long way to go after the damage done by the extreme left in hounding and persecuting Jews...that will not be easily forgotten but I think Starmer recognised that with his heartfelt apology.

Sorry but Corbyn had too much baggage. Maybe he was smeared by the press, who knows ? but I don’t think you can blame the right wing of the party for losing the 2017 election- I doubt it has that much influence over people’s voting intentions. People just didn’t like him simple as. Most people aren’t into politics, they want a leader with gravitas not a freedom fighter. Ok so Theresa May wasn’t great but Corbyn just didn’t appeal.

I think certain factions are more interested in evangelising their righteousness on social media than having an electable party who could form a credible government.

Look at Momentum and the identity politics brigade who'd sooner whine that someone used female pronouns and words in health care information than campaign against maternity discrimination and cuts to disability services.

There's a certain group of the Labour Party who are more about hashtags and selfies about whichever issue is trending than challenging some of the big private company-NHS landgrabs going on during Coronavirus.
They could lobby for affordable housing or challenge precarious employment terms, but in reality that's hard work so a selfie with a tampon totally counts as lobbying against #periodpoverty.

@bertoldbrecht I haven't just made it up. It's a real news story

www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-leak-report-corbyn-election-whatsapp-antisemitism-tories-yougov-poll-a9462456.html%3famp

Twitter is not the UK.

London is not the UK.

Corbyn... good riddance.

Just waiting for you know who....

What is the point of Labour if they are just Tory lite?

What a lot of people seem to be saying is that Labour should abandon all of their non-Tory policies in order to get elected.

OK, so maybe we'd have a Labour government but what would be the point?

So a different perspective - I come from a family of Tory voters and reluctantly voted Tory last election (frankly couldn't stand either of them) However I've been really impressed with the little I've seen / heard from Keir thus far and if it continues I will seriously consider voting Labour when the time comes. For the first time ever. Which I think shows that he's doing a great job

What is the point of Labour if they are just Tory lite?
It isn't a case of Corbyn/Momentum or Tory lite.

Labour will continue to be its own worst enemy if the extremes can't stop sniping. It needs to be a broad church.

@iamloading

The problem Starmer has got is lots of hard extreme left MPs which will take some controlling

I am optimistic for the Labour party. We need an opposition party that makes the current government accountable. He will do a far better job than Corbyn.

Think Keir is doing the right thing at the moment. Pressing on the right questions. The Government are being shown for what they are without much help. Disorganised and happy to blame everyone for the things they are in charge off.

@iamloading those of us who consider ourselves socialists don't want policies that appeal to people who have always voted Tory. No offence but we have different political views to you and wanted to see this represented. That's why we are disappointed.

In my case I don't have anything against Starmer himself but I am surprised at some of the members of his shadow cabinet who I don't consider to actually be labour supporters, they joined labour to get a seat. It's the problem with our fptp system and has caused me, for one, to become disaffected.

He has the support of actual long term labour members and that will soon be reflected. The other 'labour members' going crazy about it are the ones who came over from the greens/SWP with their 70s nonsense.